Regular readers of our column will have heard us talk about how polluting the property and construction industry is.

Nearly 50 per cent of all UK CO2 emissions are linked to the construction and operation of the built environment.

That means as a developer and operator we have a huge responsibility to curb our emissions.

But, in reality, curbing emissions is not enough. We need to completely offset them.

That’s why at BEC our team strives for zero net carbon in our developments.

This is where our ‘golden thread’ of low carbon meets our property development aspirations head-on.

A ZNC building is defined as a highly energy efficient building that:

  • Is efficient in its energy use in everything from heating and cooling to lighting and IT systems
  • Produces energy on-site via renewable sources
  • Procures carbon-free renewable energy to meet the gap between what it uses and what it generates

This ethos will be seen in action on the shores of Whitehaven, where we are working with partners – including Copeland Borough Council and Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners – to bring forward an ambitious multi-use development.

The whole scheme proposes a four-star hotel, multi-storey car park facility and a circa 75,000sq ft office development.

Current projects will see the delivery of a mixed-use office, start-up and innovator facility with supporting artisan eatery.

Each building offers the opportunity to realise ZNC potential.

Traditionally, this type of aspiration has been seen as a costly add-on and not worth compromising developer profits for.

What we strive to prove is that low carbon can both generate income and reduce operating costs – making it win-win financially over the lifetime of the building. It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s commercially savvy.

But what if we can do more than just make each building as environmentally friendly as possible?

Given the proximity of the buildings within the development, we believe there is an opportunity to achieve more.

We want to explore if we can add more into the scheme by using the buildings not only to generate their own renewable energy, but potentially export excess energy generated to the other buildings in the development when they need it.

Diverse buildings with different uses and occupancy profiles often use different amounts of energy at varied times.

The Buzz Station, for example, will be open long into the evening after the office has closed.

This creates the potential to move energy that one building doesn’t need at any point in time to another building that could use it at that same time. With a connected set-up we can also consider making use of the continuous improvement in electricity storage and battery technology so if the buildings generate excess power that none of them need, we can store it for later use.

That way we (or whoever is occupying that particular building) will not need to buy in power from the grid.

These ambitions could go even further – if we start generating and store more than all the buildings need, can we sell that energy to other buildings in Whitehaven at a cheaper price than they normally buy it so we can reduce their energy costs and provide clean energy?

These are the questions that we are trying to answer now, at the start of the development, so that the cost of implementing the answers to these questions will be kept as low as possible.

If we can do all that while maintaining cost control – and we believe we can – the development at Whitehaven will become a beacon of low carbon activity that will act as a proof point for the entire property and construction industry.